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A New Progressive Era

Welcome to #PGS17 in Berlin

27th June 2017

Welcome to Progressive Governance 17 in Berlin.

The aim of #PGS17 is to create an exceptional space for a group of leading politicians, academics and policymakers from across Europe, North America and the wider world to engage in informal and frank discussions about future economic and political trends ‒ and how progressive parties can navigate them.

This year’s event follows on from Progressive Governance conferences organised in Santiago, London, Oslo, Dublin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Stockholm in recent years.

It is jointly organised by Das Progressive Zentrum (Germany), Policy Network (UK) and the Party of European Socialists (PES), in cooperation with the Centre for American Progress (US), Volta (Italy), Terra Nova (France) and Les Gracques (France).

Our theme in Berlin is: ‘Politics for a new progressive era in Europe & the world.’

In an era of unprecedented political and economic change where, all too many people feel destabilised and left behind it is vital for the centre left to rethink and create a new policy agenda which addresses the concerns of citizens in an era of insecurity and change.

Faced with the high-risk, high-opportunity promise of the digital revolution, the rise of inequality, the success of populism and the problems of the European integration, progressives need to propose responses and incentives that are forward-looking and stay true to our core values.

We will hear experiences from across Europe about what has and hasn’t worked and interrogate fresh thinking. It is this dialogue which makes PGS unique – the ability to share experience on the ground as well as look at big ideas for the future.

There are clearly no easy answers to the huge electoral and political challenges the centre left faces. The recent success of populists forces us as progressive actors to rethink our connection with voters.

That makes it more incumbent than ever on us progressives to renew our offer – to translate a vision for a fairer society into ideas that can capture the imagination of a public often bewildered by the pace of change.

That is exactly what Progressive Governance aims to do. In can only ever be the start of the conversation about politics for a new progressive’s era but is a conversation we must have.